Analysis of the UK’s top 250 retailers, including big-name jewellery brands such as Pandora and Goldsmiths, has found a 19% year-on-year increase in the number of brands offering the option to pay in international currency.

The figure forms part of an annual performance index carried out by e-commerce and digital agency Visualsoft that found that 81% of retailers offer customers the option to pay in different currency alternatives.

This is up year-on-year, as only 62% of retailers offered international payments in 2017. The majority of these are Euros and USD, with 1% of retailers offering Yen.

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The figures could likely point towards the market preparing for a possible Brexit outcome and a reaction to political uncertainty in the lead-up to March 29.

Alongside this, the research also found that the diversity of payment methods is increasing with Amazon Pay already being used by 10% of top retailers, just after one year on the market.

A further one in 10 retailers offer finance products from lenders such as Klarna, which has risen from almost nothing in 2017.

The research also shows that 78% of consumers would consider purchasing through retail finance, with the average spend of £620. This signifies that offering this type of payment could provide fundamental revenue for future growth.

However, this appeared to be having a detrimental impact on basic payment methods.

A quarter (23%) fail to offer a payment choice other than a mainstream credit or debit card, which has dipped by 4% year-on-year.

Dale Higginbottom, head of CRO at Visualsoft, said: “These figures suggest proactivity in the lead-up to Brexit and adoption of new payment trends, which is great to see.

“However, we know that up to a quarter of consumers also abandon their transactions at checkout because the retailer doesn’t provide their payment method of choice.

“Offering a wide range of options is an important way for retailers to maximise their sales potential, but too many are still not doing so, with 23% neglecting an offer outside of traditional cards. This inability to get the basics right could prove crucial as we move into 2019.”